How Overconsumption Affects the Environment and Health, Explained – Sentient Media

Of all the human practices that are gradually destroying the environment, overconsumption is one of the most significant and least discussed.

We are using up our planet’s resources faster than they can regenerate, and a look at how overconsumption affects the environment and global health makes it abundantly clear that if we want to continue living on planet Earth, we need to make some serious changes, and fast.

Overconsumption is when humans consume more resources than we produce. At the smallest scale, this occurs at the individual level, but overconsumption is more commonly measured on a country-wide, continent-wide or planet-wide basis.

“We live on a finite planet that cannot support endless growth and unequitable, unchecked consumption,” Jennifer Molidor, Senior Food Campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity, told Sentient via email. “The pressure to constantly consume is driving destructive resource extraction, pollution and waste, and contributing to the climate and extinction crises.”

No matter how you look at it, the upshot is the same: If we use resources at a faster rate than we can regrow or extract them, we’ll eventually run out of resources. And unfortunately, that’s exactly what we’re doing.

Is Overconsumption Getting Worse?

Consumption rates differ wildly from region to region, but on a global basis, they’ve been steadily increasing over the decades. One way of seeing this is by looking at what’s called Earth Overshoot Day, a metric devised by Global Footprint Network to measure consumption over time.

Every year has an overshoot day. It’s the date on which humanity’s consumption of resources exceeded the planet’s ability to regenerate those resources within the year. The mere fact that there is an Earth overshoot day is good evidence of our overconsumption, but what’s equally concerning is that overshoot day has been coming earlier and earlier by the year.

In 1972, for instance, overshoot day fell on December 27; this means that in 1972, we were almost “living within our means,” from a global resources standpoint. In 2024, however, overshoot day fell on August 1. 

To put it differently: In 1972, we would have needed 1.01 Earths to support our consumption habits, but by 2024, we’d need 1.7 Earths to provide enough resources to match our consumption.

Some of this increase is attributable to population growth, as the total number of humans on Earth has more than doubled since the early 1970s. But that can’t be the only explanation, because worldwide resource extraction quadrupled over that same period of time, according to an unpublished United Nations report reviewed by the Guardian. This shows that consumption has been rising on a per capita basis, as well as an absolute one, over time.

How Food Waste Contributes to Overconsumption

Over the last half-century, meat consumption in particular has risen dramatically. In 1961, the average person ate around 51 pounds of meat per year; by 2021, they were consuming 94 pounds of meat per year. Perhaps the most frustrating element of the consumption equation, though, is the astonishing amount of food that is created but not eaten. A staggering one-third of all food on the planet is wasted every year, and around one-fourth of all animals killed for food are never actually eaten. Some of this is due to businesses and individuals throwing away leftovers, but a much bigger share of food — almost 50 percent — is lost during the production process itself. 

“Food waste is part and parcel of our overconsumption,” Molidor says. “And this happens in the food chain at every level, from farm to fork, from supermarkets and restaurants to households.”

Whether it’s crop pests, livestock diseases or animals dying in transit, our current system of food production results in around 1.3 billion tons of wasted food annually, which is also an enormous contributor to overconsumption.

What Drives Overconsumption?

All of this raises the question: What causes overconsumption, and why has it been getting worse over time?

“First and foremost, it’s our economic model,” Laura Fox, environmental lawyer and research scholar at Yale Law School, tells Sentient. “Capitalism promotes constant growth and rewards consumerism, and that mindset leads to overconsumption, and people buying more than what they need.”

The recent worsening of overconsumption is largely the result of technological advances, which have caused significant changes on both the supply and the demand side of the equation.

From a supply standpoint, technological advances have increased production capacity, making it cheaper than ever to pump out as much product as possible. From a demand standpoint, new technology has resulted in people seeing exponentially more advertisements than they used to, and enabled advertisers to more effectively reach their target audiences. 

Last but not least, online shopping has dramatically expanded our access to goods and services, making it easier for people to buy whatever’s being advertised.

“It’s very easy to just go on a particular online marketplace and have any goods delivered to your home, sometimes within the same day,” Fox tells Sentient. “And having that ease, and products available more cheaply than they might have been otherwise, can help contribute to this pattern of consuming more than is necessary.”

Who’s Most Responsible for Overconsumption

Although consumption has steadily increased around the world, it would be unfair to suggest that everybody — or every country — is equally responsible for pulling humanity across the threshold into unsustainability.

Higher-income countries consume six times more resources than low-income countries, according to a UNEP report. In North America, the average person consumes nine times as many natural resources as the average person in Africa.

The Consequences of Overconsumption

Many researchers and organizations have attempted to predict the long-term future impacts of overconsumption, and the predictions are pretty grim. The Organisation For Economic Cooperation and Development predicts that by 2050, PM (particulate matter) polluted air will kill three times as many people as it had in 2000. Plastic in the ocean is expected to quadruple over that same period, according to the WWF, while the Millennium Alliance for Humanity and Biosphere warns that global oil reserves could be entirely depleted by 2052.

It makes sense that much of the discussion about overconsumption focuses on long-term projections; if we continue to use our planet’s resources faster than they can be generated, we’ll eventually run out of resources, which would quite literally threaten humanity’s existence.

That said, some of overconsumption’s consequences are already observable. The staggering amount of plastic in the ocean is a prime example of this: Around 6.6 million tons of plastic waste ends up in waterways every year, wreaking havoc on coastal communities and producing trash islands like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Overconsumption’s Impact on the Environment and Health

Overconsumption is inextricably linked to natural resource extraction. Brazilian rainforests are razed to produce lumber, or to clear the way for mining and agricultural development. Copper is used to make everything from kitchen sinks and jewelry to electrical wires and cell phones. And of course, oil is mined to fuel the many vehicles humans use to travel the world.

One stark example of how the over-extraction of resources affects the environment and health is the Niger Delta. The Niger Delta is one of the world’s largest wetlands, and was once a rich and fertile ecosystem with thriving farmlands and fisheries. However, nearly a century of oil extraction has wrought havoc on the region’s ecosystem and inhabitants. Thanks to the harmful chemicals that are released into the air during the oil extraction process, it now rains acid in the Niger Delta, which corrodes roofs and building structures, destroys crops and pollutes water sources across the delta.

But the human toll of this resource extraction is even more horrifying. Many residents of the delta suffer from breathing problems and chronic bronchitis, and a 2021 study found that cancer rates are much higher in the delta than in non-oil-producing parts of Nigeria. Tragically, as a result of these and other adverse health effects of oil extraction, the life expectancy in the Niger Delta is around 40 years.

In Brazil, almost 20 percent of the entire Amazon has been deforested, according to the Council For Foreign Relations, largely for logging and cattle farming. As a result of this widespread destruction, there has been mass soil erosion, loss of biodiversity and increased CO2 emissions in the Amazon. Deforestation has also killed scores of animals who live in the Amazon and endangered the livelihoods of local Indigenous people.

Overfishing and Its Impact on Overconsumption

Meanwhile, oceans around the world have been overfished to produce seafood, which poses a serious threat to fish populations. Overfishing occurs when people catch fish and other sea creatures at a higher rate than they can reproduce. The practice has put over one-third of all sharks, rays and chimeras at risk of going extinct, according to the WWF, and around one-third of all fisheries are now at risk of depopulation thanks to overfishing, according to the Sierra Club.

Overfishing is also costing people jobs: When Canada’s Grand Banks cod fishery collapsed in 1992 due to overfishing, over 35,000 people who worked in the local seafood industry were put out of work.

Given how widespread overfishing is, it’s no surprise that the seafood industry is also one of the biggest offenders when it comes to food waste. As previously mentioned, around a quarter of all animals farmed for food are never eaten — but in the U.S., that number rises to almost 50 percent when it comes to seafood.

All of this resource extraction can be linked back to overconsumption. Oceans are overfished to feed global demand for seafood, which is expected to double by 2050.

It’s also worth noting that an estimated 75 percent of the plastic waste in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch comes from fishing gear — yet another way in which overconsumption leads to more plastic in the planet’s oceans.

How to Fight Overconsumption

So, how can we go about reversing these trends? At the individual level, the answer is obvious: by consuming less. But how do we do that?

Limiting Overconsumption on the Individual Level

There are plenty of practical steps individuals can take to reduce their consumption. Using reusable containers and products as opposed to disposable ones is a great place to start. Switching to paperless billing, buying food in glass containers instead of plastic ones, and using a hybrid or electric vehicle are also good opportunities to use fewer natural resources in your day-to-day life.

Another way of fighting overconsumption is to reduce your meat and dairy consumption. Meat production is terrible for the planet, and those of us in the global north already eat much more meat than we need to. Adopting a plant-based diet is an excellent way to bring your individual consumption down to more sustainable levels, Fox says.

“Purchasing more plant-based products is more efficient, because you’re directly consuming those calories,” Fox tells Sentient, “versus having the calories being processed through animal products to then be converted into calories for human consumption.” 

However, some activists have argued that the best way for individuals to consume fewer resources is to simply to spend less money across the board, regardless of what that money is spent on.

JB MacKinnon, a Canadian journalist and author of the book “The Day The World Stopped Shopping,” is one such person. He has written and spoken at length about the dangers of overconsumption, and argues that the adoption of green technology — well-intentioned as it may be — is ultimately less effective in protecting the environment than reducing consumption of all products, green or not, across the board.

“If you want a rule of thumb for how much impact you’re having as a consumer, the best one is: how much money are you spending?,” MacKinnon told the Guardian. “If it’s increasing, you’re probably increasing your impact; if it’s lowering, you’re probably lowering your impact.”

How to Combat Overconsumption on a Global Scale

The onus for fighting overconsumption shouldn’t fall only on consumers, as governments have a number of tools at their disposal for doing so as well.

One such tool is legislation. Governments can incentivize people and businesses to adopt sustainable energy systems, like solar power, by offering tax credits or subsidies to those who do. They can also establish certification programs for environmentally friendly products, provide support and services to businesses that want to implement greener practices and launch public education campaigns addressing overconsumption. In addition, localities can adjust their own procurement policies to prioritize more environmentally efficient foods, Fox says, a step several cities and counties around the U.S. have already taken. In practice, this means “purchasing fewer high-emissions and high-impacts foods, like meat and dairy,” Molidor adds. Similarly, schools that serve lunch to their students can implement policies to reduce food waste, and incorporate more plant-based foods into their menus.

In theory, corporations could take steps to reduce overconsumption as well. In practice, they usually don’t, because they profit from it: in a capitalist system, “consuming” usually entails purchasing a good, and selling goods is how businesses make money.

“There’s not a lot of huge incentives for companies to stop producing and getting people to buy their products,” Fox says. “[Overconsumption] is such a systemic problem, and it’s perpetuated by large corporations whose interest lay in the consumption of their goods and services.”

The Bottom Line

Overconsumption is a tricky issue to conceptualize because on a basic level, we all need to consume to survive. It’s also not fair to solely blame individuals for this problem, as modern society is structured in a way that encourages overconsumption. 

But the wide-reaching environmental and global health consequences of our current practices make it abundantly clear that we’re consuming a lot more than we need to. Unless we make a change, overconsumption will destroy our ecosystems — and possibly humanity’s ability to live within them.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

SDGs Addressed or Connected to the Issues Highlighted in the Article:

1. SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
2. SDG 14: Life Below Water
3. SDG 15: Life on Land

Specific Targets Under Those SDGs Based on the Article’s Content:

• SDG 12.2: By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.
• SDG 12.3: By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.
• SDG 14.4: By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics.
• SDG 15.2: By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests, and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally.

Indicators Mentioned or Implied in the Article:

• Indicator 12.2.1: Material footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP.
• Indicator 12.3.1: Global food loss index.
• Indicator 14.4.1: Proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels.
• Indicator 15.2.1: Progress towards sustainable forest management.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: sentientmedia.org